"No, Juragan. It isn't." Munra lowered the grass from his shoulder.
"Then why are you only carrying a bunch of grass? You also come back early, usually, you come home in the afternoon."
Munra only smiled blandly at the words. He could not say the real reason to the man sitting on the chair while flagging his body with a fan that was shaped like taro leaves but made of woven pandan leaves.
"Ah, never mind," said the man. He then waved his hand holding the pandan leaf fan, calling for a servant. "Oi, are you blind? Take this grass!"
"As you wish, Juragan," said the young man who became one of the servants for the Juragan.
The servant carried the grass that Munra had brought to the back of the building.
"I can only give you two coins for that bunch of grass. If you're lazy like this, you may not have anything to feed your wife, nor your Candala child."
"Thank you, Juragan, for paying attention to me," said Munra, bowing his head. "It's just, today I feel unwell, that's why I came home early."
"Oo, you Sudra," said the Juragan as he reached into his pocket. He glanced at Munra's downcast face, then handed the coins to him. "I'll give you three coins, let's just say it's because I feel sorry for your Candala child. Take it!"
"Thank you, Juragan." Munra received the three copper coins.
However, Munra knew enough that the bundle of grass he had brought was going to be sold again by the man to those from a higher caste for five coins. It's just that middlemen like the Juragan always give low prices to people like Munra.
"Let me tell you, Munra," said the Juragan, smiling broadly. "If you can bring me the Lotus of Eternity, I will give you a thousand gold coins and you will no longer have to live in misery." And then the Juragan burst out laughing.
"I'll consider that," said Munra. "Excuse me."
Yeah right! Munra cursed the middleman in his heart. Asking him to seek the Lotus of Eternity? It was the same as insulting his poor life. The plant exists only in legends, only a myth.
Munra couldn't do much but quicken his pace so he wouldn't hear that sickening laugh again.
What a Jerk!
***
At night in that simple hut, Munra still wakes up with his wife. Aryan was already asleep on a divan which was also made of an arrangement of bamboo slats, more like a long and low table. There was no mattress lining or anything that could provide a little comfort to the boy's body. Even so, Aryan seemed to be able to fall asleep very quietly.
"If that war is going to happen, then what about our life, my dear?" asked the wife who was sitting on the side of the divan while gently stroking Aryan's head.
"What else can we do?"
Munra sits on a log. The floor in the hut wasn't covered in anything, just a dirt floor.
However, his exhalation implies irritation if the Angholi Kingdom and the Maghabea Kingdom are really at war with the Purbha Kingdom.
"We have to find a new place to live," Munra took a deep breath. "Far from the war itself."
The wife let out a long sigh, her gaze fixed on the face of Aryan who looked so peaceful in his sleep.
Looking for a new place to live means looking for a new job which they may not be able to get, thought the wife. And that means it will be increasingly difficult for them as Sudras to find sustenance.
Just like tonight, the three of them could only eat two pieces of boiled cassava which were divided into three parts because Munra only made three coins today.
"Sometimes I think, why did the gods let us live like this?" said the wife. "Why do the goddesses seem reluctant to pity us? What's wrong with being born in the Sudra caste, didn't Prayanagara long ago not discriminate against one's social status?"
"How can I possibly answer your question?"
Munra leaned his head and back against the bamboo poles that held up the woven bamboo wall.
"I'm not a hermit let alone a Rsi. Let it be, this is how our life is. Just be grateful."
How can I be grateful, thought the wife, while we live suffering like this every day? Always scared every day. Isn't this the same as living in Naraka? (Naraka means hell)
"Then," said the wife, "you said you were going to tell me something important, what was it, my dear?"
"Aah, that's right. I almost forgot."
Munra shifted the piece of wood closer to his wife, then sat close together.
"Listen, dear..."
Munra even spoke in a soft voice as if he was afraid that someone would hear besides the two of them.
"The reason why we came home earlier was that because Aryan has disappeared from my sight."
"Huh?"
"In the forest on the west side, Aryan accidentally disturbed a Rsi's hermitage."
"Oh, Great Gods..."
The middle-aged woman looked terrified, she rubbed Aryan's body. She was afraid that something had happened to the boy.
"Hey, calm down," Munra touched his wife's hand. "Shh! Don't be so loud, someone will hear us."
The wife gulped. Whatever it was that her husband was going to say, it was certainly something that had to be kept a secret. She calmed down.
"Listen carefully, my dear. I will tell you what the Great Rsi said to me and Aryan. So, I hope you can keep this secret tight."
The wife nodded, bringing her face closer to her husband's face.
"The Rsi said that Aryan was an outcast of Gods."
"What…?!"
"Shh! Lower your voice!" Munra put his index finger on his lips.
"But, is it true?"
"A Rsi can't lie, can he?"
That is right, thought the wife. So far a Rsi has never lied even to Sudras like them.
TO BE CONTINUED ...